roof
/ruːf
/noun (plural roofs)
1The structure forming the upper covering of a building or vehicle: the rain woke him, hammering on the roof a thatched roof a car with a vinyl roof [as modifier]: roof timbers...
- Houses in villages are commonly rectangular, and are dried mud, bamboo, or red brick structures with thatch roofs.
- She peered down the side of the building to see the roof of another structure less than five or six feet below.
- The tiered seating is protected with a cantilevered roof structure that hovers over the stadium.
1.1The top inner surface of a covered area or space; the ceiling: the roof of the cave fell in...
- These are special liners on the sides and sometimes the roof and back of an oven, which are treated with a material that absorbs those greasy splashes.
1.2Used to signify a house or other building, especially in the context of hospitality or shelter: helping those without a roof over their heads they slept under the same roof a range of childcare facilities all under one roof while you live under my roof you’re not going to have a tattoo...
- Got to go to the charity ball so that those poor dears get a roof over their heads.
- The woman worked two jobs to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table.
- He was nearly 40 before he could afford to feed his family or keep a roof over their heads.
2The upper limit or level of prices or wages: starting salary £12,185, rising to a roof of £16,835
verb [with object]
1Cover with a roof: the yard had been roughly roofed over with corrugated iron...
- Perhaps it'd once been a balcony around the edge of the courtyard, now it was opened out, floored in polished wood, roofed over, and provided with an ornate balcony rail.
- This building looked massive and well built, and was roofed over with lead.
- Joist holes show how the intervening space was roofed over.
1.1Function as the roof of: fan vaults roof these magnificent buildings...
- It, like the other buildings, was growing out of the tree, it was roofed by huge leaves that overlapped like shingles, the huge doors were composed of what looked like vines, but were far too thick, and too far above ground to be roots.
Phrases
go through the roof
raise the roof
the roof of the world
Derivatives
roofless
- I drop my pack and lean against the roofless building and watch the laborers.
- His house is roofless and a small shanty next to it serves as a shelter.
- There is still the unnerving scenery of headless trees, roofless homes, abandoned tankers and large looming landmine warnings.
Origin
Old English hrōf, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse hróf 'boat shed', Dutch roef 'deckhouse'. English alone has the general sense 'covering of a house'; other Germanic languages use forms related to thatch.